E. Lanier Carson (right), CEO of Kelley Manufacturing Company (KMC), received this year’s Valor Award at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference from Valent’s John Altom.
Presenting the award, John noted that since Lanier started working with KMC in 1972 as a production engineer, he has seen many changes to the equipment used to harvest peanuts. “His first experience with peanuts was feeding a stationary peanut thrasher from the stack poles and bagging the peanuts from the thrasher. Through his years at KMC he has witnessed the expansion from a two-row digger shaker inverter to a 4-row, 6-row and 8-row equipment that has improved efficiency and reduced costs for the farmers.”
KMC introduced the first two-row peanut combine in 1987, unveiled the 4-row combine in 1989 and the 6-row combine in 1993. In 2000, the first Unload-on-the-Go for combines and dump carts was developed specifically for peanut harvesting.
Valent sponsors the Valor award at the SPGC each year to a person in the peanut industry with the “strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness.” Congratulations, Lanier!